Zika Virus now in the US becareful.

If someone had mentioned the Zika Virus to you just a couple of years ago, odds are you wouldn’t have known what they were talking about. The flu-like illness has been rampant in less developed countries like Africa and a few of the Pacific islands for more than 70 years, but those in America had never been subjected to it. Now, the CDC has issued a national alert, warning those traveling to use extreme caution as the virus has entered the United States.

The virus was never considered much of a threat. Though it’s mosquito-born, it’s characterized by a mild fever, body aches, and a rash at its very worse. Some flu strains are considered to be much worse than that, but the CDC is considered because of a possible connection with birth defects in pregnant women who contract the illness. There is the slightest possibility that those who have the illness may give birth to an infant with microcephaly, a very serious birth defect that causes the infant’s head to shrink.

With this announcement, the CDC, medical professionals, and countless other researchers have been scrambling to get a handle on the disease and develop tools to not only conduct more research, but also to develop some kind of vaccination.

The situation has become even more serious. It has not only permeated the lower Americas, infecting millions, including 5,000 pregnant women in Columbia, but has also begun to leak into the United States. Maryland just confirmed it’s first case of the Zika virus, which can easily be spread if a mosquito or other biting insect bites the host and spreads it to other humans.

Scientists are kicking themselves at the lack of research that has been done on the virus. One researcher took to Twitter to share his outrage at the neglect of research that has been done on the virus just because it hadn’t yet reached the United States and other developed countries. Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC director, MD, and disease detective posted a photo of a very small stack of papers with the caption, “Entire world literature on Zika. 50 years of neglect.